Wage Surveys

Describe the relevant market for Lowe's Home Improvement Center as it attempts to set pay rates in your local community. Based on your experience would the pay rates at the local convenience store, supermarket, bank, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, or any other store at the mall be part of the relevant market for Lowe's as it seeks to set pay levels? Will your answer differ when you consider other positions at Lowe's, including cashiers, customer service representatives, the accountant working at Lowe's regional office, or the corporate vice-president for marketing? What factors should be considered when setting these pay levels? Next, consider wage and salary surveys. What information is important in assessing the value of a survey? How do you judge survey reliability? How should an organization determine how much weight to give any survey? Discuss how wage surveys provide information needed to recruit, motivate, and retain qualified employees.

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Wage Surveys

Lowe's Home Improvement Center has a market of homeowners who want to do building and renovation projects in their home,

people who want to save money on household items by buying in bulk, and professional contractors, electricians, plumbers

and carpenters who want to provide a variety of lower cost choices for their customers.

Therefore, any attempts to set pay rates in a local community should take into consideration the number of people in the

immediate job market with professional building knowledge and retail sales experience. Also a good estimate of the number

of people in the community who will be purchasing the goods and services offered by Lowe's should be made, based on market

research. Another important consideration would be the availability of the high quality low cost goods in the immediate

area, and the transportation resources to bring or deliver the goods to and from the Center.

When setting pay rates, the rates offered to cashier and sales personnel at the local convenience store, supermarket,

bank, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, or a mall store should be considered, because the employees who are seeking job positions will

be ...

Solution Summary

This is a consideration of the value of wage and pay scale surveys for a business organization and its human resources manager.